1. Technical Field
The invention relates to mapping cartographic features, and in particular to electronic maps that may be used with navigation systems or displayed on a computer network.
2. Related Art
The use of guidance navigation systems, such as those that use electronic maps to help guide users to their destination is becoming increasingly prevalent. Such guidance navigation systems typically use a medium such as a compact disc (CD) or digital video disc (DVD) to store data relating to the cartographic features of the map, such as streets, buildings, parks and rivers. The coupling of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) data with navigation systems has made use of navigation systems practical for a number of applications. GPS-based navigation systems may be found in a variety of vehicles, as well as in user portable devices.
Known navigation systems typically use electronic maps to represent cartographic features by saving and recalling a series of points connected by straight lines. This type representation, however, includes a number of disadvantages. For example, in reality, roads and rivers are not composed of a series of straight lines, but instead are composed of a series of smooth curves. As a result, a navigation map displaying graphical information to the user on a display unit does not typically show features of map details to a high degree of accuracy. In an attempt to more accurately represent map details, the number of straight line segments used to represent the map details can be increased. However, increasing the number of line segments leads to a large increase in the amount of data that must be stored to accurately represent the features. Therefore, there is a need for mapping system for navigation systems that accurately models and displays information indicative of cartographic features without requiring large amounts of memory.